“Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege” between european law and national law

1. Introduction — 2. The reasons of the importance currently attached to the topic of legality of criminal law under a European perspective. — 2.1. The EU competence in criminal matters expressly provided for in the “Draft Reform Treaty” of 2007. — 2.2. The recent recognition by the European case-law of the obligation for Member States to apply criminal sanctions. — 3. The reasons of the difficult approach to the principle of legality within the European framework. — 3.1. The changing profiles of the principle of legality in the EU Countries. — 3.2. The absence of a written principle of criminal legality in the European Treaties. — 4. The principle of criminal legality within the principles of the unwritten EC law. — 4.1. The principle of criminal legality in the light of the European Convention on Human Rights. — 4.2. The unsatisfactory implementation of the ECHR principle of legality by the Luxembourg bodies. — 4.3. The European principle of criminal legality in the light of the constitutional traditions of the Member States. The impact produced on the principle by the various criteria of implementation of the fundamental rights within the Community. — 4.4. The deficient implementation of the European principle of criminal legality through recourse to the Constitutions and legal orders of the EU Countries. — 5. The principle of criminal legality in the European “written law”. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and its lack of legal effect. — 5.1. Towards the establishment of “written law” principles legally binding within the EU. The principle of criminal legality in the 2004 Constitutional Treaty and in the Draft Reform Treaty. — 6. Provisional conclusions on the principle of criminal legality in force within the EU. — 7. The problem of compliance with the principle of legality of the European law-making process in criminal matters.